Cook County Public Defenders Blog

President Stroger’s office is predicting a budget shortfall for the coming year of $307 million.  On Monday, October 1, the County Board will be discussing a proposal to raise the county portion of sales tax from .75% to 2.75%.  The revenue generated by this proposal could mean an addional $749 million in annual revenue for Cook County. 

What does this mean for us in the Public Defender Office?  This means another season of political debate about where to shave County operating expenses, another season of fighting to protect our Office and our clients, and another call for assistant public defenders to get involved in these very serious matters that effect us all.

Calls to four laid off attorneys were being made on Tuesday September 25th notifying them that they needed to appear at the County building to take their medical to get clearance for recall. They should be back at work on the day after Columbus Day. The attorneys are Andrea Bonds, Shelley Blair, Joe Stachler and Kim Tallon. Welcome back to all of them.

Below is a little note from Shelley Blair about the whole experience and her communication with the local:

I am writing to thank the Union for all their hard work in getting me back to work-I just found out today that I have been recalled.

The one thing that kept my hopes alive and my spirits up was my constant communication with Bob Galhotra. When you are out of a job, keeping your hopes and spirits alive means a lot. While I wasn’t always filled in on exactly what the Union was doing, Bob Galhotra remained in constant contact with me. I probably emailed him once every two weeks-sometimes more, and he ALWAYS got back to me within hours. While he could not always disclose what was going on ‘behind closed doors,’ he was always honest with me and answered all my questions. This means a lot to someone who has lost their job and wants nothing more than to come back. I write this with full confidence in our Union and that they will continue to try to remedy all that was wrong with the layoffs.

A defendant who is seated in the car from which a shot is fired, who remains in the car as it speeds away from the scene of the crime, and who is arrested later while still in the car, is not accountable for the shooting unless it can be proven that he had the intent to commit the shooting. People v. Washington, No. 2-05-0826.  The Second District recently reversed an attempt murder conviction of a defendant under these ciricumstances.  Addressing accountability, the Washington court stated the following: “our supreme court has made clear that mere presence of a defendant at the scene of a crime, even when joined with flight from the crime and knowledge of its commission, is insufficient to establish accountability.“

Last week, postings went up around the Office for promotions and transfers to numerous sites in the Office.  Today, some of those notices had to be temporarily rescinded because of problems with the County.  Postings for transfers are still in effect, including transfers to Bridgeview and 26th Street for Grade II positions.  Other postings that included possible promotions have been rescinded, including postings for Grade IV positions in Markham and Homicide Task Force and Grade III positions in the Multiple Defendant Division and 26th Street.

 If you have interest in the Grade II transfers, you should bid now.  If you have interest in the rescinded postings, stay tuned as these positions may be re-posted soon.

As posted previously, Ron Alwin passed away on May 19, 2007.   Since his funeral was out of town in Wisconsin, many of his friends and colleagues were unable to attend the services.

On September 25th, 2007 at 4:00 p.m. in Courtroom 2525 of the Dirksen Federal Building, a gathering has been planned to remember Ron.

Please join his friends, family and colleagues for an evening of memories, storytelling and festivities . . . just the way Ron would have liked it.

By the Union’s count, the Public Defender Office is down to 434 frontline attorneys. This is way below the 467 attorneys provided for in the 2007 county budget. Through layoffs, attrition, and members taking advantage of the county pension buyout, our staffing levels are too low.

The Union is not waiting for this situation to rectify itself. This week, members of the Union board will be attending meetings to try to get some action. We will seek to have the remaining attorneys on layoff brought back as soon as possible, and will also seek to have our Office immediately begin hiring additional attorneys to bolster our numbers. Stay tuned for more information.

The union is hosting a reception from 6pm to 7:30 pm following the first day of the two day mandatory MCLE for attorneys in the Office of the Cook County Public Defender.  The seminar will take place on September 6th and 7th  at the Lakeside Center of McCormick Place and is mandatory for attorneys who have a last name between A-M.

Four bartenders will be serving cocktails, wine, beer, bottled water and soft drinks or juice for your pleasure.  Each full share attendee will receive  two tickets that they can present to the bartenders for their drink of choice.  The bartenders are also operating a cash bar for those who give away their tickets or use them up.  Drink responsibly and enjoy the reception!